I just had my '84 Scamp 13 weighed. Propane tank relatively full. No battery, no water, no clothes, no cargo. The only option with any weight is the fridge -- 1,200 pounds. More precisely the trailer was 1,060 pounds and the tongue weight was 136 pounds, so that's 1,196 pounds. I am going to be installing the new battery in a vented box beneath the dinette, so that will take a little tongue weight off. After that, I can fine tune it by putting water in the tank if I need to.

Greg G
If you read the options list for 13' trailers on the Casita and Scamp website, you will see that Casita has brakes, shower, hot water heater, refrig, battery pack, 2 propane bottles, roof fan, etc. listed as standard on all trailers. Scamp lists all of these as options. I would assume that Casita adds the weight of all this standard equipment to their total and Scamp does not.

We have traveled with both a Casita 16 and a Scamp 16, both of similar vintage and similarly equiped, bathroom, AC, ....

We have scaled weighed both trailers, the Scamp on a yearly basis. The equipment primary 'surface' difference between the two was that the Casita had an awning and the Scamp does not.

The following two examples are trailers fully loaded for 6-11months of travel. Both cases include a single full propane tank and a 1/4 to 1/2 tank of water. Black and grey tanks empty. Both trailers had 13" tires.

The axle weight of our Scamp 16 is typically in the 2300 lb ballpark with a typical tongue weight of 195 lbs.

The axle weight of the Casita 16 was 2560 lbs with a heavier tongue weight of 230 lbs.

I always assumed the bulk of the 200+ lb diffference was in the extra fiberglass on the bottom of the Casitas, not seeing any other substantial difference.

Now having used both trailers, I can personally see little value in the fiberglass bottom since floors seem to rot from the top down leaks and not bottom up.

Having said that from looking at the Trailer Weight list, it is clearly possible to load one of these small rigs over a wide range, particularly tongue weights. It is clear we attempt to keep our tongue weight at or below 220 lbs.

Thanks. I am weighing which but seriously am for small casita. I am in a month long search for a towing vehicle for less than $10k that get mpg of 20 or higher in tow w/ 13 ft. Casita as I am on fixed income on road below 700 a month. Any suggestions for used SUV or truck getting 20 or above mpg at $8k or so?

Thanks. I am weighing which but seriously am for small casita. I am in a month long search for a towing vehicle for less than $10k that get mpg of 20 or higher in tow w/ 13 ft. Casita as I am on fixed income on road below 700 a month. Any suggestions for used SUV or truck getting 20 or above mpg at $8k or so?

Maybe a 4 cylinder Ranger or similar sized pickup would approach what you are asking for. A manual transmission wold get better fuel economy.

Ford Escape gets over 20mpg. Mine is a 2011 (so it would cost more than 7K) and it gets 25mpg going back and forth to work at 70mph and some city driving. I has gotten 28mpg on a long rural trip doing 55-60mph. They make 4cyl Escapes also

My 16' Scamp is bare bones (no furnace, no fridge, no bathroom, no awning). It has the usual cabinets, one steel propane bottle and a battery. I weighed it empty at a scale and it was 1440 lbs.

I have towed it with a 4-cylinder Isuzu pickup truck with manual transmission for thousands of miles and although a more powerful vehicle would be better, I think this truck is perfectly adequate. I can totally keep up with the traffic on lever roads and small inclines and on very steep roads I am equal or better than the commercial trucks.

I have another trailer which I tow with the same truck. It not aerodynamic, weighs 2400 lbs and causes the truck to burn 30% more fuel (compared to when towing the Scamp). It slows down my speed by 20% and even on small hills I am slower than most of the traffic.